bæredygtighed

The other day I met up with Johanne and Emma and had a little chat about how living more sustainably should not be about being perfect at everything, and that it is much more important for others to see that you are also in a process and working on things and in that way are much more relatable to others, than if you were the perfect example of something. No one is perfect, we all struggle with things and we should not beat ourselves up about it, that won’t help anyone.

If you strive so much to be perfect that you end up burning out mentally, then this will do not good at all because eventually you might just give up on everything and that is no good. So don’t be so hard on yourself.

You might want to live more sustainable (which is awesome!), but take your time and make it a slow process. Habits needs to change and that just takes time. You might also have started with something but have went back to your old habits – no worries, that doesn’t mean that you have failed. You can just start trying again once you are ready.

Here are some of my back and forth processes

The shampoo bar

I had been using the shampoo bar for a couple of months and then went on a skiing trip with my boyfriend and his family, and to be honest I was just so tired and exhausted that I just didn’t bother to wash my hair with the shampoo bar at the holiday and I ended up using my boyfriends shampoo and have been since. I want to get back to the shampoo bar again, but I have honestly just been too lazy and busy with a lot of other things lately, but I for sure want to start using it again.

Toothpaste

For a while I made my own toothpaste, but I am currently being way too confused about oral hygiene and whether or not to use fluorid etc. and I really want to take good care of my teeth, so I have (for now) returned to a plastic packaging toothpaste. If any of you have awesome recommendations for toothpaste in glass jars or anything like that, please let me know!

I still buy groceries in plastic packaging

More than anything I wish I lived next door to LØS market and could buy all my food there without having to worry about plastic packaging, but I just live too far away for it to make sense to go there for every time I need to buy groceries. Whenever possible I will always strive for the plastic free option where I am, but that is the current reality. However I’m extremely happy about seeing more and more cardboard alternatives to plastic in supermarkets, fx Fakta now has rice in cardboard packaging instead of plastic packaging, so I always buy rice there.

Etc. I might have several other things that I have gone back and forth with. But what I wanted to say with this is that we should not beat ourselves up about not doing everything perfectly. Take your time, and be okay with going back and forth. It is a process, and it takes time. And sometimes you try something which does not work for you, and that is okay, then try to search for other alternatives or ways to do things.

You might have heard about the saying “you teach best what you most need to learn“? That is so true for me with this post, because I have certainly been guilty of beating myself up a bit (mentally) because I have gone back to some old habits. So this blog post is just as much a reminder to myself not to blame myself so much. I know that I still want to change things and strive for living more sustainably, but I don’t want to spend all my time worrying and stressing about it. I will much rather have fun with it!

Do you know the feeling? Have you also gone back and forth between some old habits as well?

If you’ve been following along in here for a while, then you know that I’m in the process of switching things out as I go for more sustainable options. Just search for “switching to” in here and you can see some of the switches I have made, everything from menstrual cups, to stainless steel straws, to reusable cotton pads.

Now you might think, what on Earth is soap nuts?

It’s basically, as the words says, nut shells which you can use as a soap to wash your clothes with.

When you buy them you buy a big cotton bag with many small soap nuts in it and then you also get a little small cotton bag. Then when you wash your clothes, you just put 4-6 soap nuts into the little cotton bag and throw it in the washing machine together with the clothes, and voila clothes is clean! A bag with 4-6 soap nuts can do around 4-5 washes and then you just take out the soap nuts and compost them, and replace the old ones with some new ones.

It’s been forever since I last shared an ‘interesting things’ post. But sometimes there just isn’t that much inspiration, and then I’d rather just wait until I have some than just share something which I don’t really find that interesting. I hope you can find some inspiration in the 3 things I want to share with you today.

And, remember, if you have found anything interesting (links, articles, videos, documentaries, books etc.) please just share them with me, I would love to know!

3. Organic Olivia’s youtube channel – I just found this girl yesterday and I love her channel. She’s all about holistic and natural health and beauty, she also has a video about how to do a gua sha facial massage

4. Sustain Yearly, the sustainable lifestyle magazine, is now SO close to reach its goal on kickstarter! If you haven’t bought your copy yet, go and support it! (*10 minutes after I wrote this, they reached the goal! Sustain Yearly 2nd year is becoming a reality!)

As I’ve already written about once before in here, the sustainable lifestyle magazine Sustain Yearly is running its crowdfunding campaign at the moment and now there’s only 1 week left!

More than 400 people have backed the project so far and the 100,000 DKKR is reached – but, they still need 20,000 DKKR. So even though they are so close to reaching the goal – there is still a little way to go yet.

If you are considering buying a copy of the magazine then you should buy it now. It is an all or nothing project, since it is being run through a crowdfunding campaign. That means that they need to reach their goal (which is 120,000 DKKR before Sunday March 4th) or else all the money will just go straight back to those who have supported the project, and the magazine will not become a reality.

If you are still wondering whether or not to buy the magazine, then I can tell you a little bit about what’s in it and why I think you should support it.

The magazine is made to inspire people to live a more sustainable lifestyle and it’s filled with inspirering articles, interviews, guides, recipes, beautiful pictures and so much more. If you support this project you can thereby help a sustainable lifestyle get spread out to even more people (not just in Denmark, but all around the world – because if funded, the magazine will be available in both Danish and English).

Have you already got your copy? Or are you still considering it? (then just don’t wait too long)

As you might know I’m in the process of slowly switching things out in my everyday life for better and more sustainable alternatives.

And a dish brush might seem like such a simple thing to switch, and it is, the only problem was that when my boyfriend and I moved in together in our apartment 2,5 years ago we went to IKEA and bought 2-3 plastic dish brushes because then we “didn’t need to buy those again for the next long time”.

So the problem came when I wanted to switch to some more sustainable household things, because then I, of course, didn’t wanted to throw out our existing plastic dish brushes, so I had to wait until we had used them all up.

But, now it is finally time to switch to a wooden dish brush. And I gotta admit, I find them so beautiful. And just like with the bamboo toothbrush, it is such an easy and simple thing to switch for a more sustainable one.

English:

If you don’t already know about Sustain Yearly, then I can tell you that it is a lovely magazine with focus upon how we can all live a more sustainable life all year round. The magazine was published for the first time last year in Denmark, and this year the dream is that it will be published in both Danish and English, to reach more people.

The magazine is filed with inspirering articles, interviews, recipes and much, much more. It’s such a beautiful magazine and the perfect “table book” if you ask me. And, I might have written an article in it as well 😉

But, the magazine is only going to be a reality if it gets funded through the kickstarter campaign. You can buy a copy (or more, it’s a lovely gift idea!) and thereby support the campaign and make sure that the magazine will become available for lots of people and inspire them to live a more sustainable life.

SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN

I hope that you want to support Sustain Daily and their beautiful magazine. If you buy the magazine through this link* then I’ll get a percentage of the sale, and you thereby support both the magazine and me.

Not only does this affect fish lives and corals, but this also affect our health, just watch this video with Zooey Deschanel encouraging you to bring your own reusable water bottle. But it is also just terrible to think at how much plastic there is lying around everywhere. This is not something I want to contribute to. I don’t want the Planet to be destroyed, I want to leave it just as beautiful as it was when I grew up to future generations – and most important of all – I want there to actually be a Planet which is possible to live on!

Therefore, I am trying my best to switch out so many plastic products in my everyday life as possible. I gotta admit, it ain’t always easy, especially not when it comes to buying food, but I try my best, and I hope that this blogpost can help you to see where you can try as well.

10 ways you can cut down your plastic use

1. Use a reusable water bottleInstead of buying a plastic water bottle, invest in a reusable one which you can bring along with you and fill up wherever you go. This also saves you a lot of money.

3. Use skincare and bodycare products in glass or without packaging
Have you ever thought about how much packaging beauty and skincare products come in? Go for glass or cardboard packaging instead, or buy fx soap bars and shampoo bars without any packaging.

4. Use a bamboo toothbrush
Ditch the plastic toothbrush and buy bamboo toothbrushes instead, which can be composted after they are used up.

5. Use glass or steel containers to store your food in
Invest in some glass or steel containers and prepare your lunch at home, and avoid buying take-away lunch in lots of plastic. Or, if you are buying take-away food, try and ask if you can get it in your own container.

6. Use reusable cotton bags
Bring a reusable cotton bag with you whenever you are buying groceries or anything else, and say no to plastic bags.

7. Buy in bulk
If possible buy your groceries at a bulk store, in that way you can avoid a lot of plastic. If you don’t have something like that nearby then try to opt for the plastic free options you have available, fx buy the single bell pepper without packaging, or the loose bananas and use your own reusable produce bags.

8. Go for loose leaf tea
I have a hard time with this point myself, but striving for buying loose leaf tea and use a tea egg to make your tea also saves the environment for plastic, because in regular tea bags there are small plastic parts in it.

9. Use a safety razor
Investing in a safety razor can also save you from having to buy plastic razors.

10. Use a reusable to-go cup of sit down to drink your coffee or tea
Get a reusable to-go cup, and whenever you are out and about then bring your own cup and get it filled, or choose to sit down at the café and just drink whatever you are having from a normal cup.

2018 is getting closer, and it is the perfect time for new year resolutions and new goals! I have several goals for the new year to come, but I also have some specific ‘zero waste goals’. By that I mean things I want to change in my life to live a more sustainable life.

You can’t do everything at once, and I’ve already changed many things in 2017, so here are some of the things I want to change in the new year:

I want to buy these boxes from IKEA for my waste sorting, to make it more practical and prettier at home. Because at the moment my waste sorting looks like piles of plastic, cardboard and glass in random places in the kitchen, and it’s certainly not very pretty.

I want to gain some courage to actually bring my own food container whenever I’m buying take-away food from our local bagelshop. I’m still in the phase of thinking too much about what other people might think of me if I do that, so that is something I want to work on in 2018.

I want to become better at saying “no thanks” to plastic bags quicker whenever I’m buying something in shops. Sometimes the cashiers are so quick that I haven’t even noticed they’ve put my stuff in a plastic bag before it’s too late to say something.

I’m going to buy a washing-up brush in tree once we’ve used up the plastic one that we have in the kitchen.

I want to finish off all plastic cleaning products, and get some glass bottles and make my own cleaning products.

I want to buy some bee’s wrap and thereby never have to use tin foil or foil again for food.

These were some of the things which were on my ‘zero waste goal’ list for 2018. Do you have any zero waste goals for the upcoming year? And have you changed anything this year?